Question of the Week: 12 - 10/23/2000Pagan Choice for the y2k US ElectionThis week's Pagan Perspective question is a redux of one that we asked about at the beginning of August... And we apologize in advance to our non-United States readers that we have again brought up an issue that is rather exclusive to just one country, but feel free to comment on the shenanigans of the American political system as you see it.) Which political platform or candidate are you leaning towards? Have you made up your mind or changed your mind? Will you vote and who-if you don't mind telling the world-are you planning to vote for? Why have you made this particular choice?

Even though I am only 14 and can not vote in this election, I sincerely hope that Al Gore will win. He supports many issues that I, being a woman and a Witch, believe in, such as the environment, abortion, gay rights, and freedom of religion. Our country needs a president who knows what is good for the people, and Bush's idea of running the country is clearly taking away human rights. It is not for the government to decide whether a woman should have an abortion or not. It is not for the government to decide what people should believe in. Bush does not see Wicca as a legitimate religion, and thus violates the whole "freedom of religion" amendment. More than that, his Ideas to cut taxes are not very stable. The government needs to get money from somewhere, and if taxes will be eliminated or drastically cut, our whole nation would simply crash down. So for the sake of our country, I strongly believe Gore should be president, and I wish with all my heart that I could take part in the election.

I Voted For Gore, Although, I Was Originally Going To Vote For...

Nov 8th. at 10:06:48 am EST

Stacy (Oconomowoc, Wisconsin US)

Age: 37

I voted for Gore, although, I was originally going to vote for Bush. I don't think Gore is a totally honest person, but I liked his stance on religion, environment, and abortion. I personally would not have an abortion at this point in my life, but the government is not the one who should make such a decision. Life is prescious, as all Pagans know. But government should not have a hand in that decsion. I didn't like Bush's plan to drill for oil in the wildlife refugee in Alaska, and I didn't like his uneducated response regarding Wicca. I did like his tax plan and his Social Secruity plan better than Gore's. However, the issues that were more important to me made me vote for Gore. Now we just have to wait and see if Gore is a liar or a man of his word.

To Day I Voted For Al Gore I Really Like Him. He...

Nov 7th. at 5:39:14 pm EST

Jennifer (New Bedford, Massachusetts US)

Age: 27

To day I voted for Al Gore

I really like him. He is the best man for the job!!! I am confident that Bush would grind the Country into the ground.

ThanksJennifer

The Thing That Will Ensure That We Loose Our Constitutional Rights, Is...

The thing that will ensure that we loose our constitutional rights, is if we think it can't happen. I know that we'd love to make a statement, but while we can survive a bad presidency that lasts only four years, we cannot survive a rightest Supreme Court that lasts the majority of a lifetime. Maybe you can live with the result if Bush wins, but are you willing that your children would. Congress is already going to go to the Republicans, if we don't have a president that is Democrat, our government will start trampling us. This is why we have a party system. Yes, there must be a better way, but this is not the time to push it. Nader so obviously doesn't care - or he would step back, realizing that he is endangering his own values. I can't vote, but I am one of those who suffers a lifetime from the results of a rightest Supreme Court. I'm a woman, pagan, and handicapped. That's my right to chose, my right to worship, and equality right there. I may be against other opinions - ever abortion - but I don't have the right to decide for another what they will do with their life. The only thing that stops others from making this decision for us is the Constitution. This is the very heart of Constitutional rights. This is why this vote should be about who you want in the Supreme Court.

Considering That George Bush Thinks Wicca Is Not A Valid Religion And...

Considering that George Bush thinks Wicca is not a valid religion and should not be allowed to be treated with that repsect in the military, then I'll have to say Al Gore. Let's face it, we do not want to take a step back. We've gotten this far, let's go all the way with religious freedom.

What a choice we have this election year... Bush Lite or Al "Tin Man" Gore.

I won't consider voting for a third party candidate, as they have little chance of winning and I don't wish to waste my vote. Bush feels that our religion is not "real" as well as being "pro-life." As a woman and a Wiccan, I do not agree with these positions. I also find his ideas about Medicare etc. a little frightening. I have relatives dependent on social programs who may suffer if he makes the changes he proposes. Gore does not inspire any great confidence either, but I will vote for him as a vote against Bush.

Scandals aside, I do feel this country has improved economically under the Clinton administration. Of course, I also think the economy is much like the weather. Even though the weatherman can do little about the weather, he catches all the blame. Hopefully things will continue on a upswing. Fair skies and all...

I will vote for Ralph Nader/Winona LaDuke, and every other Green candidate who appears on the ballot. If the Greens get 5% or more of the popular vote (and thereby FEC funding), they will be in a better position for the long struggle ahead.

The 2 major party candidates are virtually identical on issues like GATT/NAFTA/WTO, military spending, the drug war, the death penalty, and the general destruction of civil liberties in this country. Both men are willing to pander to whatever corporate interests they have to in order to get elected.

Gore's supporters claim that he is a great environmentalist. Rhetoric aside, I wonder if he ever even READ his own book (Earth in the Balance)! Gore's environmentalism seems to be limited to the nice, safe issues like more bicycle paths, tax credits for folks rich enough to buy electric cars and solar power systems, and cleaning up abandoned industrial areas to make more room for condos for yuppies. Al Gore , who feigns outrage at "Big Oil" on the campaign trail is a major stockholder in Occidental Petroleum, which is currently destroying the homeland of the U'Wa people in the Columbian rainforest. He is opposed to the growing of industrial hemp for fuel and fiber. Turning the tide of environmental destruction is going to take more than the feeble efforts that have characterized the Clinton/Gore years. Fundamental changes in the american way of life will be required, as well as the elimination of corporate influence in policy making. A green revolution is needed, not a continuation of the neo-liberal status quo.

As to issues like the Supreme court, where were the Democrats when reactionaries like Scalia and Thomas were appointed? Scalia was passed through the senate with a vote of 98-0! And now the democrats want to claim that they are the only bulwark against a conservative-dominated court? Give me a major break! They drag out the supreme court "bogeyman" every 4 years in an effort to browbeat the progressive movement into perpetuating the evil of 2 lessers. Enough is enough!

Nader was not my first choice as a Green nominee (I much preferred Steven Gaskin or Jello Biafra), but the Green party is building momentum as the electoral expression of the anti-corporate groundswell that was born in the tear gas of Seattle. The only voices calling for the kinds of major policy changes that are needed are the Greens and the Socialist party, and the Greens have a shot at enough votes to fight the good fight in 2004. They are the only ones out there who work for progressive votes, rather than just counting on them.

It has become apparent top me that the vote for the presidency of this country should go to the "lesser of the evils", George Bush. Al Gore appears to be a manipulative liar. My husband explained to me that although Al Gore "said" he had reduced government spending infact all he did was hire private "sub-contractors" instead. It's obvious what the "intention" is.However I do not know what stance George Bush is taking toward pagans.?treestar

First I would like to say that I am wholehearedly disappointed, profoundly shocked, and enormously disturbed by people who say they are staying home on November 7th. As an African-American, and as a woman, I am thrilled to be partaking in my first presidential election as a registered voter. Far too many people have marched, fought, shed tears, bled and even died for this precious right that so many Americans seem to take for granted. No matter who you choose to vote for, VOTE. Let's not forget that the very concept of democracy was born in a Pagan culture, and as an ancestor-honoring religion, to stay home and not exercise the right that our ancestors paid lifeprice for (no matter what color your ancestors are, this is true) would be a slap in the face to them.

That having been said, I am a staunch Democrat, and to me the choice we face on November 7th, contrary to what the talking heads on the Sunday morning shows and newspaper pundits have been saying for months, is quite clear. I was born in 1981, at the very beginning of the Reagan-Bush era. My parents were divorced fairly early on in my life, and my mother struggled as a single parent to feed and clothe me, and to put my older sister through college on a VA nurse's salary. There were times when we did without, but we got by. Many of our friends, relatives, and neighbors were not so lucky. Many of them had to take two and three jobs just to put food on the table, in crumbling homes they could not afford to repair, in neighborhoods devastated by urban blight.

Regardless of your personal opinions about them as people, when the Clinton-Gore administration came in 1992, they pulled this country back from the utter brink. Even the staunchest of Clinton-haters must give at least that bit of credit. Al Gore, as was mentioned earlier, was instrumental in a lot of the policies which we are reaping the benefits of today. He brought more power and influence to the office of Vice-President than anyone imagined. He is a man who knows how to get things done, and has worked tirelessly to do so. Sure, he has his flaws, who doesn't? But to me, he is clearly the best qualified for the job. I don't see this as a "lesser of two evils" at all.

Bush II at the helm of this country would be an unmitigated disaster, and anyone who doesn't realize that after looking at the facts is either too partisan to be objective or plainly put, stupid. "Shrubya" is a spoiled, incompetent frat-boy looking to stage the biggest kegger in history at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., one that will last for at least 4 years. Not only is he stupid, which is dangerous in and of itself, but the fact that he picked one of his father's cabinet members as his running mate suggests just how beholden he is to his father's conservative cronies. Make no mistake people: Shrubya will *not* be president if elected--the women-hating, gay-bashing, bible-thumping, conservatives of his inner circle will be.

I can not fathom why there are Pagans out there who are voting for Bush when he has stated, not once but twice now, that he believes Wicca is not a religion and therefore our rights don't matter. The first time was during the Fort Hood debacle over Witches in the Military, and the second was in the recent web Q/A thing. Why would you possibly vote for a man who believes your valued, treasured beliefs are not valid and not worthy of protection? As for his economic plan, it is little more than the ill-concieved "trickle-down" economics of Reagan, which by the way was completely dismissed as a farce and completely disastrous by the very man who came up with it--a Reaganite, btw. Do you know what "trickle-down" means? It's the upper 1% pissing on the rest of us. The "compassionate conservatism" of Shrubya is an umbrella made of gauze.

As for Nader, while he does have some good ideas, the fact is that on many key social issues he has been completely silent. And, on the off-chance that this is Bizarro World and he would get elected, does anyone honestly think he'd be able to get anything done in Washington regardless of who wins (or retains) control of Congress? We know that Nader hates corporate America. What about his foreign policy? What about his stances on so many other issues? The people I know who are pro-Nader have really failed to address this. And whether you like it or not, a vote for Nader *is* a vote for Bush. Let's not kid ourselves. Bush is counting on a split of the traditional Democratic base (as well as the McCanites) to get him elected, and for good reason. Naderites, I ask you this: If (when) Nader loses, would you rather have Bush or Gore in office? I thought so. Even the matching funds issue is a moot point. Another person pointed this out better than I could.

In the end, I will be voting enthusiastically for Al Gore on Nov. 7th, and enthusastically against Shrubya, his daddy, and their fundie cronies.

Oh My, Where Do I Begin? I Have Been A Practicing Witch...

Oct 30th. at 12:36:31 am EST

Becky Fain (Florissant, Missouri US)

Age: 35

Oh my, where do I begin? I have been a practicing witch for almost a year now, so I am new to the Pagan Community. I too am concerned for the preservation of our environment and natural resources. HOWEVER, I am convinced that if Al Gore is elected president, it will be the beginning of the slow process of the erosion of all of our rights under the constitution. This is a man who wants to expand our government to the greatest extent in our nation's history, 4 TRILLION dollars, that's twelve zeros. George Bush's comments about Witchcraft not being a religion disturbs me as well, as well as his abortions stances. I don't believe that you are going to find that you agree with everything a candidate stands for. But instead of just getting mad at GW for his statements why hasn't someone from the Pagan Community sought him out to explain why he is incorrect?! Isnt't that what we have been fighting for these past 300 years or so? Is a little education so far out of the question? I think not. When I see George W. Bush a see an honest real man, not the man the mainstream media has tried to portray. Do we really want a man who will so obviously lie("I invented the internet.") running the country? I for one DO NOT! For anyone elseout there who is of the same opinion, and I guess I am one of very few, I am looking for a nice "Pagans for Bush" group. I can't believe that I am the only Witch who can very clearly see the similarities between conservatism and Paganism. It's very simple. They are both about personal responsibility, and taking the heat for your own actions, not letting someone else, including your government, run your life.

Lesser Of Two Evils? Why Not! When You Put It In That...

Oct 29th. at 7:50:42 pm EST

Eli (Fort Lauderdale, Florida US)

Age: 18

Lesser of two evils? Why not! When you put it in that perspective, Gore pretty much has to win because he believes in our rights and Bush believes out rights should be limited to those the wealthy, conservative, special interest groups think we should be allowed. If lesser of two evils is the only argument that gets you to vote, and for Gore, then do it.

In my opinion the two evils in this election are George W. and Ralph Nader, both men who talk real nice but can and will do nothing to get it done, not that Nader will ever ever ever get the chance. And the matching funding he seeks for the next election by getting five percent of the vote means nothing, Perot got twenty percent of the vote the first time, got the matching funding, and only did half as well the second time around. And Nader isn't even doing as well as Perot the second time, and that's pathetic, and frankly although Perot was crazy he could certainly have run this country better than Nader, who has virtually no experience. Nader's views sound nice enough but in reality he could accomplish nothing against an essentially bipartisan Congress, with few third party Senators or Representatives. They would shut him down, regardless of who was in the majority.

Gore is an honest and experienced leaders who quite frankly deserves to win this, he has fought for us in Washington for a quarter century and spent the last eight years as the only man I know of to ever bring pride and true political power to the office of Vice President, which used to be looked at as little more than the Queen of England with less fanfare. Don't let 'em tell you he lies, he never claimed to have invented the internet, he merely said that he was one of the strongest voices in the development of the early military technology and the later telecommunications revolution that brought the internet to every household, and the man who actually did invent the internet endorsed Gore and agreed with claims of being a major force in the creation of the internet. As for what he said in the first debate, he said he had been to Texas with James Lee Witt to check out disaster scenes, and in fact that time he was with Witt's Press Secretary and only briefed on the extent of the damage without actually going to check them out himself. However, there were numerous occassions where Gore and Witt actually did travel together to survey disaster sites, and he merely confused one instance with several others, not a lie nor an intentional exxageration nor very much of an exxageration at all on his part. Gore has the right views and can get things done, and will work tirelessly to keep this the strongest economy in American history. What he lacks in personality he makes up for in commitment and depth of knowledge, and as far as I'm concerned he lacks very little that regard, he's just a little boring sometimes and that's no reason not to vote for him. Besides, you can see he's getting better, his public speeches are becoming more moving and less agonizing all the time.

Elect Gore to President, Hillary to the Senate, and give the democrats a congressional majority and this country will be on the best path it has ever been on.

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